. >> reporter: benjamin berman is the chief helicopter pilot for cal fire. he's also the one that is training the other pilots how to fly cal fire's new fire hawk helicopters at night. >> when you're looking through the night vision goggles, you go from about 200 degrees of peripheral vision, now looking through a 40-degree field of view. >> reporter: today berman is showing me how he trains pilots by first using a flight simulator. he says learning to fly at night, even for experienced pilots, can take time. >> there's different subconscious movements that you have to acquire when flying on night vision. >> reporter: before this program cal fire was never able to fight fires aerially at night. that's because the helicopters they had before the fire hawks were much smaller and didn't have as many safety features. berman says to think of the difference between the old helicopters and these new ones like you would the difference between an old used car and a brand-new ferrari. >> it's capable of carrying 1,000 gallons of water where the huey is one-third of th

. >> reporter: benjamin berman is the chief pilot for cal fire and is training pilots on how t fly the new helicopters at night. >> you go from about 200 degree of peripheral vision to about a 40 degree field of view. >> reporter: he says learning t fly at night, even for experienced pilots, can take time. >> there are different movement you have to acquire when flying with night vision. >> reporter: before the program cal fire was never able to figh fires at night. that is because the helicopters they had before the firefox were much smaller and did not have safety features. berman says to think of the difference between the old helicopters and the new one like you would between an old used car and a new ferrari. >> is capable of carrying 1000 gallons of water where the old one was one third of that. it i also dual-engine. >> reporter: he believes the ne helicopters will be a crucial tool in fighting large and dangerous wildfires. being able to continue attacking the fire at night offers a slew of advantages. the temperature is usually cool, the wind slow and the humidity high. >> all

. >> benjamin berman is the chief helicopter pilot for cal fire. he's also the one that is training the other pilots how to fly cal fire's new fire hawk helicopters at night. >> when you're

. >> benjamin berman is the chief helicopter pilot for cal fire. he's also the one that is training the other pilots how to fly cal fire's new fire hawk helicopters at night. >> when you're looking through the night vision goggles, you go from about 200 degrees of peripheral vision now looking through 40-degree field of view. >> today berman is showing me how he trains pilots by first using a flight simulator. he says learning to fly at night even for experienced pilots can take time. >> there's different subconscious movements that you have to acquire when flying on night vision. >> before this program cal fire was never able to fight fires aerially at night. that's because the helicopters they had before the fire hawks were much smaller and didn't have as many safety features. berman says to think of the difference between the old helicopters and these new ones like you would the difference between an old used car and a brand-new ferrari. >> it's capable of carrying 1,000 gallons of water where the huey is one-third of that. it's also dual engine